eady instrument for his purpose. By an additional
Act, in 1726, it was ordained that a Roman Catholic priest, marrying a
Protestant to a Catholic, should suffer death; and in order that legal
redress might be still less accessible to the Catholics, it was enacted,
in 1728, that no one should be entitled to practise as an attorney who
had not been two years a Protestant."

This is a clear and succinct epitome of the penal laws; true, much more
might be added; but it is enough to say that those who sow the wind will
reap the whirlwind. It is not by placing restrictions upon creeds or
ceremonies that religion can ever be checked, much less extinguished.
Like the camomile plant, the more it is trampled on the more it will
spread and grow; as the rude winds and the inclemency of the elements
only harden and make more vigorous the constitutions of those who
are exposed to them. In our state of the world, those who have the
administration of political laws in their hands, if they ever read
history, or can avail themselves of the experiences of ages, ought to
know that it is not by severity or persecution that the affections
of their fellow-subjects can be conciliated. We ourselves once knew
a brutal ruffian, who was a dealer in fruit in the little town of
Maynooth, and whose principle of correcting his children was to continue
whipping the poor things until they were forced to laugh! A person was
one day present when he commenced chastising one of them--a child of
about seven--upon this barbarous principle. This individual was then
young and strong, and something besides of a pugilist; but on witnessing
the affecting efforts of the little fellow to do that which was not
within the compass of any natural effort, he deliberately knocked the
ruffian down, after having first remonstrated with him to no purpose. He
arose, however, and attacked the other, but, thanks to a good arm and a
quick eye, he prostrated him again, and again, and again; he then
caught him by the throat, for he was already subdued, and squeezing his
windpipe to some purpose, the fellow said, in a choking voice, "Are you
going to kill me?"

"No," replied the other, "I only want to see the length of your tongue;
don't be alarmed, the whole thing will end merrily; come, now, give
three of the heartiest laughs you ever gave in your life, or down goes
your apple-cart--you know what that means?"

"I--I c--a--n'--t," said he.

"Yes, you can," replied his castigat